Scrum Master

GAVIN O. ST. MATTHEW-DANIEL, MBA, CSM, CSPO

Twinrose Place, Milton, GA. 30004

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavinsmd/ Mobile: 573-***-**** *****.***************@*****.***

CERTIFIED SCRUM MASTER CERTIFIED SCRUM PRODUCT OWNER BUSINESS ANALYST

Innovative. Analytical. A change agent in information technology and well-versed in driving business value. Skillful at launching product visions and translating them into deliverables and managing product execution into initial MVPs and beyond.

EXPERIENCE

DELUXE, Atlanta, GA. December 2018 - Present

CERTIFIED SCRUM MASTER (CSM)

Facilitated the launch of new Scrum teams to work collaboratively with offshore delivery teams `

Measured sprint success and reduced failures by identifying and mitigating impediments

Created a platform and process by which delivery teams can escalate and remove blockers impeding product development

Provided individual and group Scrum training, mentorship, and coaching to 13+ Scrum teams across 5 projects within a value stream

Facilitated and coached to expectations and expected outcomes of Scrum events (e.g. Stand-Up, Sprint Planning, Backlog Refinement, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective) so that teams are aligning value to Sprint and product goals

Conducted bi-weekly meetings with Agile Leadership Teams (e.g. directors and technical managers) to inspect team health, mitigate areas of concern, and build upon delivery team member progress

Promoted trust between the Product Owner and Scrum team by fostering transparency and encouraging continuous collaboration, thereby creating an environment where Backlog Refinement is an event where both share accountability in the precise decomposition of Product Backlog Items (PBIs)

Organized Agile Scrum development programs (e.g. Product Owner workshops and Agile Refresher's) to promote a strong Community of Practice, continuous learning, and support for delivery teams

Assisted hiring managers in scouting and onboarding prospective candidates who would deliver and drive business results for the organization

Managed and track dependencies across scrum teams to increase transparency and prevent roadblocks

Assessed team growth opportunities for autonomy through observation, Sprint Retrospectives, and Q&A sessions while conducting performance-enhancing skill workshops

Established and encouraged fundamental Agile values and principles to elevate team collaboration, accountability, and transparency

Coached technical managers on the importance of enabling Scrum teams (e.g. direct reports) and their roles and partnership in Agile delivery

Coached leaders on the importance of aligning roadmaps and epics to tangible business goals to ensure all product delivery goals directly support the goals and objectives of the customer

Managed and tracked team velocity and capacity to better improve the timely delivery of products to customers, with the added ability to speak to burn up details

Coached the Product Owner and delivery team on the importance of backlog prioritization for consistent delivery of value

Promoted practices of continuous improvement by enforcing the adoption of Kaizen work at a minimum of 10% per Sprint cycle

Championed an Agile mindset amongst peers by instilling a safe environment where open communication and collaboration led to an increase of self-organized teams with 80% increased productivity and a 72% decrease in bug detection in production environments

ANTHEM, Atlanta, GA. April 2018 - November 2018

CERTIFIED SCRUM PRODUCT OWNER (CSPO) Contractor

Led product planning and development meetings to identify gaps, project risks, and establish a product vision in alignment with customer values

Facilitated user persona workshops to get a clear understanding of user types so that the products for which I managed addressed specific needs of the customer

Created and defined user stories and acceptance criteria to clearly reflect the business need by adhering to the I.N.V.E.S.T guidelines, thereby improving accuracy in development and product fixes

Designed mockups to showcase customer analytics tools and features to the development team for inspection and adaptation

Executed backlog refinement so the Product Backlog Items (PBIs) are decomposed, vetted, and accurate, with the right level of effort to meet the needs of the business

Aided my team scrum Master in the facilitation of core events (e.g. Backlog Refinement, Sprint Planning, and Sprint Review)

Drove high-level requirements and feature delivery for multiple products, spanning two product backlogs across two teams

BSI, Atlanta, GA. May 2017 - April 2018

CERTIFIED SCRUM MASTER (CSM) Contractor

Supported the development team by coaching and enabling them to self-organize

Coached and trained the development on Scrum best practices and principles

Helped to identify and remove impediments that prevented the Scrum team from completing their tasks

Facilitated Sprint Planning to better prepare for future iterations

Facilitated Backlog Refinement to ensure all team members had a clear understanding of the deliverable and how to execute based on the established Definition of Done criteria

Assisted the Product Owner with the product backlog by finding techniques to manage it effectively

Enabled Scrum teams to foster behaviors of continuous improvement by leading Sprint Retrospectives

Managed burndowns, impediments, and dependencies of Sprint workloads to ensure a completed Sprint increment

Maintained structured, time-boxed Sprint ceremonies to keep participants on task and aligned to targeted Sprint goals

Utilized Kanban and Trello boards to capture Sprint progress, impediments, and team health

Assisted the Product Owner in developing user stories that met the Definition of Ready and accurately reflected the customer's request, while flushing out ambiguity to allow for more productive Backlog Refinement's

Coached the Product Owner on the proper use of Acceptance Criteria and Definition of Ready and how to apply those effectively so that collaborative meetings are streamlined

Used methods such as velocity tracking, burn up/down rates, and OKRs to measure team success and identity opportunities for improvement

Applied project management practices to indicate the time to deliver on a Sprint to Feature basis via planned vs. actual capacity

Utilized burndown tools to communicate progress and make visible the tasks and effort required to close out an iteration

DELOITTE, Atlanta, GA. January 2017 - May 2017

CERTIFIED SCRUM PRODUCT OWNER (CSPO) Contractor

Executed process re-engineering for audit workflow with business stakeholders and subject matter experts (SME) to increase accuracy and reduce risks from audit errors

Created extensive documentation that provided best practices and guidance on feature workflow for end-users

Led backlog grooming to ensure all Product Backlog Items (PBIs) were decomposed, vetted, and accurate with the right level of effort to meet the needs of the business

Supported delivery team members during Sprint Planning in the establishment of their sprint backlog to ensure it aligned with the product goal/vision in accordance with the targeted release

Worked closely with internal and external customers to solicit and refine requirements (user stories) to align the desired functionality with the current state of the product

Engaged customers throughout the development cycle to gather feedback on completed increments, using takeaways to prioritize the product backlog further

Thoroughly vetted the acceptance criteria to ensure the development team could satisfy the conditions of the Definition of Done

Participated in discovery sessions to identify key features for future innovative implementations

Led product design meetings with the development team, chief product owners, and SMEs to establish a common understanding of epics at hand

Conducted demos and solicited feedback from stakeholders and marketers regarding new functionalities for clarity and feedback on project direction

Analyzed the current application functionality to identify gaps and opportunities for enhancements

Led teams on gathering requirements and implementing new feature enhancements for legacy applications where 56 clients were contracted to use

Built relationships with stakeholders to gain more insight into the needs of the business, further driving profits 33%, for which I was involved

Worked diligently to ensure product delivery is executed per the established release date, using backlog prioritization, team velocity, and product burndown to communicate progress

CIOX HEALTH, Atlanta, GA. April 2015 – January 2017

CERTIFIED SCRUM PRODUCT OWNER (CSPO)

Positioned as the Subject Matter Expert (SME) by understanding the business products, needs, and goals

Led requirements gathering efforts on epic decomposition

Established user story and acceptance criteria to ensure the team meets the stake holder's business needs

Created detailed user stories at the business level and solicited feedback from the delivery team for execution

Led Backlog Refinement to discuss user stories and decompose them further upon dev team's request

Led Sprint Planning by presenting a prioritized backlog to the team and determining the next iteration based on driving customer value

Supervised the estimation of user stories to determine the level of complexity and effort to complete an item and minimize the risk of introducing technical debt

Prioritized the product backlog based on features that increased product value by 12%

Created and collaborated with UX design teams to design mockups and wireframes to better capture the usability and workflow of a product

Documented new features for external, client-facing implementations and release notes

Built and maintained business relationships with clients to better drive the prioritization of objectives

Collaborated with cross-functional and offshore teams to establish project status

Attended Sprint Retrospectives to discuss, learn and expand on product development approaches as a team

Worked with stakeholders to manage product expectations and product delivery timelines

Facilitated and coordinated with QA teams to establish a robust user acceptance testing (UAT) process and applied that process to ensure successful testing of applications in production environments

OPTIMUM HEALTHCARE IT, Tampa, FL. May 2010 – April 2015

SR. BUSINESS ANALYST CONSULTANT

Responsible for meeting with business process owners and project managers to define the scope of the project

Served as a liaison between business stakeholders and the IT development, application, and reporting teams with full life-cycle responsibility ensuring successful implementation of solutions that met business needs

Conducted Business Requirements Gathering sessions in the form of questionnaires with stakeholders, end-users, subject matter experts (SME), and developers

Managed the organization and documentation of business requirements to ensure project team members developed and implemented solutions that meet customer needs and minimized defects before implementation

Assisted in the development of functional, conceptual, and logical design specifications

Scheduled, coordinated, and facilitated requirements gathering sessions with the business to identify and drive complete requirements

Documented business process flows with a focus on business process improvements

Participated in daily stand-ups and followed the Agile methodology for elicitation and representation of requirements based on interaction with the business process owner, SMEs, and the development team

Gathered and documented business and functional requirements, developed use cases, and conducted Gap and Impact Analysis to better drive value in alignment with business goals

Analyzed and prepared users AS-IS workflow scenarios and the TO-BE business processes

Developed and executed test plans, performed functional-usability testing, and ensured that the software meets system requirements

EDUCATION

Georgia State University, J. Mack Robinson College of Business Atlanta, GA

MBA, GENERAL BUSINESS/ COMMERCIALIZING INNOVATION December 2023

Lincoln University Jefferson City, MO

BSC. ECONOMICS, MINOR IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION May 2007

CERTIFICATIONS

Scrum Alliance Atlanta, GA

CERTIFIED SCRUM MASTER March 2018

Scrum Alliance Atlanta, GA

CERTIFIED SCRUM PRODUCT OWNER April 2016

TECHNICAL SUMMARY

11 years of diverse experience in the Information Technology field with the ability to work collaboratively and independently while managing business expectations with a delivery-focused approach to work

5+ years using SQL (e.g. gathering data for research and analysis)

Experience in authoring and the decomposition of Epics into themes for User Stories

Identifying and writing Acceptance Criteria

Real-time experience in Business Analysis and Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) using Agile Scrum, Agile Kanban, and Waterfall Methodologies

Highly proficient in Microsoft Office Suite

Experience in collaborative tools such as Team Foundation Server (TFS), Visual Studio Team System (VSTS), Salesforce, SharePoint, and JIRA/Confluence

Well versed in Requirements Change Management, Impact Analysis and Gap Analysis

Experienced in preparing documentation (e.g. Business Requirement document (BRD), Requirements Traceability Matrices (RTM), Use Cases, Issue Logs)

Experience in analyzing documents such as project plans, business cases, and scope documents

Facilitation of Joint Application Development (JAD) sessions, user workshops, interviews, conference calls, and whiteboard sessions to keep executive members apprised of goals, project status, project deliverables, and to resolve issues

Experience in interacting with business users to identify needs and initiate process changes

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